archive

Belles set to battle conference rivals

Justin Stetz | Friday, September 10, 2004

The Belles will play two games against conference opponents today in the Saint Mary’s Triangular. Calvin faces off against Saint Mary’s beginning at 4 p.m. Then four hours later Tri-State gets its chance to play the Belles to end an intense day of volleyball action. Calvin currently resides in third place in the MIAA with an overall record of 5-1 and a conference mark of 1-0. Meanwhile, Tri-State is in the same position as the Belles, still searching for their its win as they come into tonight’s match 0-6 and 0-2 in conference play. Only Saint Mary’s has a worse record, having already dropped three games to conference teams. Last year during the Triangular, the Belles found much success as they went on to defeat both Kalamazoo and Tri-State University. However, this season they are coming into the contest still winless and facing a tough opponent in Calvin. “Our main focus is to just go into the game and fun,” Rupright said. During the 2003 regular season, the Knights defeated the Belles in a nailbiter. In five tough games, Calvin barely slipped by Saint Mary’s, winning 15-13. In their two matches versus Tri-State, Saint Mary’s went undefeated, sweeping them in both matches. If the girls come out ready to play tonight, they will have a very good shot at capturing their first victory of the year, especially having performed exceptionally well against the Thunder in recent games. Once again, team communication and getting off to a fast start will be very important. “Since the season started, we have had more games then practices,” said Rupright. “We haven’t had time to fix the problems that we need to.”Following Friday’s games, the Belles will get a break, not having to play again until Tuesday against Bethel.